QUESTION OF LAW INVOLVED
2. Whether examination of all witnesses cited in the complaint is sine qua non for taking cognizance by a Magistrate in a case exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions is the question which arises for consideration in this appeal filed against order dated 18.4.2007 passed by the learned Single Judge of Patna High Court in Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No.1778 of 2007 whereby he remitted the case to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Saran with the direction to make further inquiry and pass appropriate order in the light of proviso to Section 202(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.).
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ARGUMENTS OF THE APPELLANT
5. Shri Gaurav Agrawal, learned counsel for the appellant argued that proviso to Section 202(2) Cr.P.C. is not mandatory in character and the High Court committed serious error by remitting the matter to the Chief Judicial Magistrate for further inquiry only on the ground that all the witnesses named by the appellant had not been examined. Learned counsel further argued that non-examination of two witnesses cited in the protest petitioncum-complaint did not preclude the Chief Judicial Magistrate from taking cognizance against respondent Nos.1 to 4 because he felt satisfied that a prima facie case was made out against them. In support of his arguments, learned counsel relied upon the judgment of this Court in Rosy v. State of Kerala (2000) 2 SCC 230. Shri Gopal Singh, learned counsel for the respondents argued that proviso to Section 202(2) Cr.P.C. is mandatory and the Chief Judicial Magistrate committed a serious error in taking cognizance against respondent Nos. 1 to 4 and issuing non-bailable warrants against them without insisting on the examination of remaining two witnesses named in the complaint. He relied upon the observations made by Thomas, J. in Rosy v. State of Kerala (supra) and the judgment in Birendra K.
Singh v. State of Bihar (2000) 8 SCC 498 in support of his submission that proviso to Section 202(2) Cr.P.C. is mandatory.
6. We have considered the respective submissions. By its very nomenclature, Cr.P.C. is a compendium of law relating to criminal procedure. The provisions contained therein are required to be interpreted keeping in view the well recognized rule of construction that procedural prescriptions are meant for doing substantial justice. If violation of the procedural provision does not result in denial of fair hearing or causes prejudice to the parties, the same has to be treated as directory notwithstanding the use of word `shall’. Chapter XIV of Cr.P.C. enumerates conditions for initiation of proceedings. Under Section 190, which forms part of the scheme of that chapter, a Magistrate can take cognizance of any offence either on receiving a complaint of facts which constitute an offence or a police report of such facts or upon receipt of information from any person other than a police officer or upon his own knowledge, that such an offence has been committed. Chapters XV and XVI contain various procedural provisions which are required to be followed by the Magistrate for taking cognizance, issuing of process/summons, dismissal of the complaint, supply of copies of documents and statements to the accused and commitment of case to the Court of Sessions when the offence is triable exclusively by that Court. Sections 200, 202, 203, 204, 207, 208 and 209 Cr.P.C. which form part of these chapters.
COGNIZANCE ON COMPLAINT AND SUBSEQUENT PROCEDURE
7. An analysis of the above reproduced provisions shows that when a complaint is presented before a Magistrate, he can, after examining the complainant and his witnesses on oath, take cognizance of an offence. This procedure is not required to be followed when a written complaint is made by a public servant, acting or purporting to act in discharge of his official duties or when a Court has made the complaint or if the Magistrate makes over the case for inquiry/trial to another Magistrate under Section 192. Section 202(1) empowers the Magistrate to postpone the issue of process against the accused and either inquire into the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by a police officer or by such other person which he thinks fit for the purpose of deciding whether or not there exists sufficient ground for proceeding. By Amending Act No. 25 of 2005, the postponement of the issue of process has been made mandatory where the accused is residing in an area beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the concerned Magistrate. Proviso to Section 202(1) lays down that direction for investigation shall not be made where it appears to the Magistrate that the offence complained of is triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions or where the complaint has not been made by a Court unless the complainant and the witnesses have been examined on oath under Section 200. Under Section 202(2), the Magistrate making an inquiry under sub-section (1) can take evidence of the witnesses on oath. If the Magistrate thinks that the offence complained of is triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions then in terms of proviso to Section 202, he is required to call upon the complainant to produce all his witnesses and examine them on oath. Section 203 empowers the Magistrate to dismiss the complaint if, after considering the statements made by the complainant and the witnesses on oath and the result of the inquiry or investigation, if any, made under Section 202(1), he is satisfied that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding. The exercise of this power is hedged with the condition that the Magistrate should record brief reasons for dismissing the complaint. Section 204, which talks of issue of process lays down that if the Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence is of the view that there is sufficient ground for proceeding then he may issue summons for attendance of the accused in a summons-case. If it is a warrant-case, then the Magistrate can issue warrant for causing attendance of accused. Section 207 casts a duty on the Magistrate to supply to the accused, copies of the police report, the first information report recorded under Section 154, the statements recorded under Section 161(3), the confessions and statements, if any, recorded under Section 164 and any other document or relevant extract thereof, which is forwarded to the Magistrate along with police report. Section 208 provides for supply of copies of statement and documents to accused in the cases triable by the Court of Sessions. It lays down that if the case, instituted otherwise than on a police report, is triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions, the Magistrate shall furnish to the accused, free of cost, copies of the statements recorded under Section 200 or Section 202, statements and confessions recorded under Section 161 or Section 164 and any other document on which prosecution proposes to rely. Section 209 speaks of commitment of case to the Court of Sessions when offence is triable exclusively by it. This section casts a duty on the Magistrate to commit the case to the Court of Sessions after complying with the provisions of Section 208. Once the case is committed, the trial is to be conducted by the Court of Sessions in accordance with the provisions contained in Chapter XVIII.
8. The object of examining the complainant and the witnesses is to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the complaint and determine whether there is a prima facie case against the person who, according to the complainant has committed an offence. If upon examination of the complainant and/or witnesses, the Magistrate is prima facie satisfied that a case is made out against the person accused of committing an offence then he is required to issue process. Section 202 empowers the Magistrate to postpone the issue of process and either inquire into the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by a police officer or such other person as he may think fit for the purpose of deciding whether or not there is sufficient ground for proceeding. Under Section 203, the Magistrate can dismiss the complaint if, after taking into consideration the statements of the complainant and his witnesses and the result of the inquiry/investigation, if any, done under Section 202, he is of the view that there does not exist sufficient ground for proceeding. On the other hand, Section 204 provides for issue of process if the Magistrate is satisfied that there is sufficient ground for doing so. The expression
“sufficient ground” used in Sections 203, 204 and 209 means the satisfaction that a prima facie case is made out against the person accused of committing an offence and not sufficient ground for the purpose of conviction. This interpretation of the provisions contained in Chapters XV and XVI of Cr.P.C. finds adequate support from the judgments of this Court in R.C. Ruia v. State of Bombay, 1958 SCR 618, Vadilal Panchal v. Duttatraya Dulaji Ghadigaonkar (1961) 1 SCR 1, Chandra Deo Singh v. Prokash Chandra Bose (1964) 1 SCR 639, Nirmaljit Singh Hoon v. State of West Bengal (1973) 3 SCC 753, Kewal Krishan v. Suraj Bhan (1980) Supp SCC 499, Mohinder Singh v. Gulwant Singh (1992) 2 SCC 213 and Chief Enforcement Officer v. Videocon International Ltd. (2008) 2 SCC 492.
THE COMPLAINANT IS NOT BOUND TO EXAMINE ALL THE WITNESSES NAMED IN THE COMPLAINT
12. The use of the word ‘shall’ in proviso to Section 202(2) is prima facie indicative of mandatory character of the provision contained therein, but a close and critical analysis thereof along with other provisions contained in Chapter XV and Sections 226 and 227 and Section 465 would clearly show that non examination on oath of any or some of the witnesses cited by the complainant is, by itself, not sufficient to denude the concerned Magistrate of the jurisdiction to pass an order for taking cognizance and issue of process provided he is satisfied that prima facie case is made out for doing so. Here it is significant to note that the word ‘all’ appearing in proviso to Section 202(2) is qualified by the word `his’. This implies that the complainant is not bound to examine all the witnesses named in the complaint or whose names are disclosed in response to the order passed by the Magistrate. In other words, only those witnesses are required to be examined whom the complainant considers material to make out a prima facie case for issue of process. The choice being of the complainant, he may choose not to examine other witnesses. Consequence of such non-examination is to be considered at the trial and not at the stage of issuing process when the Magistrate is not required to enter into detailed discussions on the merits or demerits of the case, that is to say whether or not the allegations contained in the complaint, if proved, would ultimately end in conviction of the accused. He is only to see whether there exists sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.
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14. Although, Shah, J. and Thomas, J. appear to have expressed divergent views on the interpretation of proviso to Section 202(2) but there is no discord between them that non examination of all the witnesses by the complainant would not vitiate the proceedings. With a view to clarify legal position on the subject, we deem it proper to observe that even though in terms of the proviso to Section 202(2), the Magistrate is required to direct the complainant to produce all his witnesses and examine them on oath, failure or inability of the complainant or omission on his part to examine one or some of the witnesses cited in the complaint or whose names are furnished in compliance of the direction issued by the Magistrate, will not preclude the latter from taking cognizance and issuing process or passing committal order if he is satisfied that there exists sufficient ground for doing so. Such an order passed by the Magistrate cannot be nullified only on the ground of non-compliance of proviso to Section 202(2).
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16. As a sequel to the above discussions, we hold that examination of all the witnesses cited in the complaint or whose names are disclosed by the complainant in furtherance of the direction given by the Magistrate in terms of proviso to Section 202(2) is not a condition precedent for taking cognizance and issue of process against the persons named as accused in the complaint and the High Court committed serious error in directing the Chief Judicial Magistrate to conduct further inquiry and pass fresh order in the light of proviso to Section 202(2).
PARTY: Shivjee Singh vs. Nagendra Tiwary and others CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1158 OF 2010 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No.1416 of 2009) – July 6, 2010.
https://main.sci.gov.in/jonew/judis/36434.pdf
